Washing machine



Dec. 9, 1924- A. W. FARRELL WASHING MACHINE Filed Dec. 19, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Dec. 9, 1924.

1,518,578 A. w. FARRELL WASHING MACHINE Filed Dec. 19, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jid.

10 J0 Q0 1 n r F6. 427 & 9 49 46 Patented Dec. 9, 1924.

UNiTED STATES ARCHIE W FARRELL, OF CHICAGO, ILLINQIS.

WASHING li'IACHINE.

Application filed December 19, 1922. Serial No. 607,816.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ARCHIE W. FARRELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Washing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in washing machines of the type, which, while more particularly intended for domestic or household use, is applicable for employment in laundries, and has among its objects the provision of a washing machine of a selfcontained or unitary form, whereby compactness and portability is attained, and of such construction and arrangement of its parts that in the operation thereof, garments, clothes, or fabrics may be quickly and thoroughly washed or cleansed without material injury thereto.

Another object of the invention is to furnish a highly efiicient washing machine of the plunger or pounder type, wherein the washing or cleansing of the articles will be accomplished not only by forcing air and water therethrough and by the vertical movements of the plungers or pounders of the machine, but also by reason of a back and forth rubbing effect applied to the articles being washed by the plunger A. further objectis the provision of a yielding connection uniting certain parts of the driving mechanism of the machine in Such a way as to prevent, or to reduce to a minimum, liability of damage to or dislocation of parts of the apparatus under certain conditions.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become obvious from the following description and explanation.

The invention, consists in certain peculiarities of the construction, novel arrangement and combination of the various parts thereof as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.

In the accompanying drawings,

Fig. l is a plan view of a washing machine embodying the invention.

Fig.2 is a longitudinal vertical. sectional view taken centrally through the machine but showing the middle portion of the cover of the container or tank in elevation.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view partly in section and partly in elevation of the driving gears and their casing, taken on line 8-3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

F ig. 4 is avertical sectional view taken on line 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a similar view taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows.

Fig. (3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 6-6 of Fig. 2 as indicated by the arrows, showing the construction of the yielding connection which unites certain parts of the driving mechanism of the machine, and

Fig. 7 is a central vertical sectional view of one of the plungers of the device.

Corresponding numerals of reference refer to like parts throughout the different views of the drawings.

The tank or receptacle for holding water and the fabrics to be washed, is indicated by the numeral 10, and by preference of an elongated rectangular shape as shown. This receptacle has its upper end closed by means of a cover or platform 11 which also serves as a support for the various parts of the machine. The cover or plat-form 11 is pivotally connected at one of its ends by means of hinges 12 to one of the end walls of the receptacle 10, and is clearly shown in Fig. 2 ,of the drawings, has its hinged portion extended horizontally and outwardly from the wall of the receptacle 10 to which the cover is secured, so that by turning the cover 11 on its hinges until it assumes a sub stantially vertical position, or a position slightly inclined outwardlv from the vertical wall to which it is secured, the said extension will rest against said vertical wall and thus prevent further outward movement of the cover. The cover can be caused to assume the above named position when it is desired to place articles to be washed within the receptacle 10 or when it is desired to remove the articles therefrom. The cover 11 is provided about midway between its side edges, with a pair of spaced and aligned slots 13 for the reception and operation of a pair of vertically disposed rods or shafts 14, each of which carries on its lower end a concavo-convex plunger 15 of any suitable material and size.

Each of the plungers 15 is in the form of an inverted cup or bowl and by preference is provided with a vent opening 16 for the passage of air, and each plunger has secured to its upper portion by means of solder or otherwise, a concave plate 17, each of which plates has centrally thereon an upwardly extended projection 19 to fit in the lower end of the shaft 14: on which the plunger is mounted. The shafts 1e. are by preference tubular in form for the sake of lightness, and the projections 19 on the plates 17 of the plungers can be rigidly held in place on the lower ends of the shafts ll by means of pins 18 extended transversely through suitable openings in the shafts and projections.

Mounted on the cover or platform 11 between the slots 13 therein, is the base 20 of the bearings for the shafts 1d of the plungers. These bearings comprise a pair of uprigl'its 21 located on the upper surface of the base- 20 near the sides thereof, and another upright 22 centrally disposed with respect to the uprights 21 and extended some distance above the upper ends of the last named uprights. Each of the uprights 21 is provided with an inwardly extended and horizontally disposed journal box 23, while the upright 22 is provided at its upper end with a similarly disposed journal box 2d for the reception and operation of a short shaft 25 on the ends of which shaft are rigidly mounted one at each end of the box 24h, a pair of parallel brace bars 26 which have their ends pivotally secured to the sides of the upper ends of the shafts 14 which carry the plungers. These bars 26 are mounted on the shaft 25 midway between their ends so as to have rocking movement with respect to the journal box 2 1 and the upright 22 which supports said box. These bars are connected together by braces 27 near each of their ends so as to securely unite them.

Transversely journaled. in the journal boxes 23, which as is clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 5 of the drawings are located some distance below the journal box 2% a shaft 23 which has fixed thereto and depending; therefrom on one side of the upright 22 a crank 29 having at its lower end a wrist pin 30 to which is loosely connected one end of a yielding connection as will be presently explained.

Transversely mounted on the shaft 23. to turn therewith, one on each. side of the upright 22, and one at the inner end of each of the boxes 23, are brace bars 31 which have their ends pivotally secured to the sides of the shafts 1a which carry the plunger-s at suitable points below the bars 26. The bars 31 are united near each of their ends by means of a brace 32 for the purpose of securely uniting said bars together. For the purpose of holding the bars 31 in parallelism or spaced from one another. a sleeve 33 surrounding the shaft 28 and interposed between the bars 31 is employed. By the foregoing arrangement it is apparent that the bars 26 and 3f united as above stated to the upright shafts 14C, constitute a frame which is mounted for oscillatory movement on the shafts 23 and 25 comprising parts of the bearings for said frame,

Mounted on the cover 11 and by prefer ence near the hinged end thereof, is a gear casing 34: which has journaled in its upper portion a shaft 35 which carries a worm 36 meshing with a worm gear 37 mounted on a shaft 33 journaled in the casing 34. transversely with respect to the shaft 35 and below the same. The upper portion of the casing 3a is provided with a box-like enlargement 39 in which the worm 36 is located, and to take care of end thrusts of the shaft 35, a pair of washers l0 and a1 is located between each end of the worm 36 and the adjacent end of the enlargen'ient 39 in the casing. The shaft 35 is longitudinally journaled in the casing 34: with respectto the cover 11 and has keyed on its inner por tion a pulley L2 to which power may be applied by means of a belt leading from a source of power.

The shaft 35 has its end adjacent the pulley 4-2 thereof provided with a longitudinally extended recess 4.3 which is of a segmental shape in cross-section and is for the purpose of receiving a correspondingly cross-sectionally shaped end of a flexible shaft 44 which may be connected to an electric motor, not shown, or other mechanism for imparting rotary motion to said shaft and through it to the worm carrying shaft. The shaft 44 may be prevented from displacement by means of a pin 45 extended through suitable openings in the shaft 35 across the recess thereof and engaging the shaft 44.

Loosely connected at one of its ends to the wrist pin 30 on the crank 29, is a yielding connection which comprises a pair of bars 46 and t? which overlap each other as is shown in Fig. 6. and are secured together for slid ing longitudinal movement with re spect to each other by means of lips or lugs 48, a pair of which lugs is provided on the member 4-6 and overhang the member 4:7, and another pair of such lugs is provided on the member 4:? and overhang the member 46, as is clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 6 of the drawings.

The overlapping portions of the bars 46 and 4:? are each provided with a longitudinally extended slot d9 which normally reg ister with one another as shown in Fig. 6 of the drawings. Each of the bars 46 and 47 has extended inwardly from each end of its slot a guide-pin 50 which as shown is located at the meeting surfaces. of the bars 46 and 47 so that the guidepins at either end of the slots 4-9 will. rest one on the other but for slidable movement. Surrounding these guide-pins 50 is a compression spring 51 which rests at its ends against opposite ends spring pressed bars 46 and 47 united for of the slots 49 in said bars.

By reference to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the outer end of the bar 46 is loosely connected to the wrist pin 30 on the crank 29 of one of the supporting shafts for the frame of the plungers, while the outer end of the arm 4:? is loosely connected to a wrist pin 52 carried by a crank on the shaft 38 on which the worm gear is mounted. By this arrangement it is manifest that when rotary motion. is applied to the worm shaft 35, which may be done through the instrumentality of a belt passing over the pulley 412 or by means of the rotatably driven shaft let, the worm gear 37 and its shaft will be rotated at a high rate of speed, and that by reason of the connections of the last named shaft with the shaft 28, the frame carrying the shafts lt and their plungers will be caused to oscillate so that the plungers will be alternately lowered and elevated.

In this operation it is manifest that as each plunger is depressed, it will describe an arc of a circle and thus press the clothes or garments within the receptacle 10 below said plungers against the floor of said receptacle with a rubbing movement towards the opposite end from each of the plungers. In their movements, the plungers will of course compress the air contained in their cavities and force the same, as well as water in the receptacle, through the fabric or garments with great force. As the garments or fabrics, in the operation of the machine, will have a tendency to puff up between the plunger-s, by reason of air forced under the fabric or garments, thus causing them to be inflated or balloon-like, as illustrated by dotted lines in Fig. 2 of the drawings, and as this positioning of the garments would not permit the inflated parts thereof to be properly acted on by the plungers, I provide a horizontally disposed. arm 54E on the lower portion of one of the shafts 14, which arm is extended towards the plunger on the other shaft and equipped with a depending projection 55 which will act to press the inflated garments downward in the downward move ment of the plunger shaft which carries the arm 54: and projection 55, thus deflating the garments or fabrics.

In the event of the garments or fabrics being placed in too large a batch, either in the operation of the machine or when the garments are placed in the receptacle, under one of the plungers. so that it will meet with too great resistance to permit it to finish its downward stroke without breaking some of the parts or prying up the cover 11, I employ the yielding connection comprising the independent longitudinal movement with respect to each other.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. In a washing machine, the combination with a container for water and fabrics, of a cover therefor, a frame including a pair of uprights extended through said cover into the container and mounted on the cover for oscillatory movement in a vertical plane, a plunger on each of said uprights, an arm extended from the lower portion of one of said uprights towards the other and having a depending projection at its free end, and means for oscillating said frame thereby causing alternate vertical movement of the plungers.

2. In a washing machine, the combination with a container for water and fabrics, of a cover therefor having a pair of spaced and aligned slots, upright bearings one above the other mounted on the cover between the slots therein, a shaft horizontally and transversely journaled on each of said bearings, a pair of uprights located in said slots of the cover and extended therethrough, horizontally disposed connections loosely uniting the upper portions of said uprights and at least one of said connections fixed to one of said shafts, a plunger on each of said uprights within the container, a crank extended from the lower shaft, and means connected to said crank for oscillating its shaft and thereby causing alternate vertical movement of the plungers.

3. In a washing machine, the combination with a container for water and fabrics, of a cover therefor having a pair of spaced and aligned slots, upright bearings one above the other mounted on the cover between the slots therein. a shaft horizontally and transversely journaled on each of said bearings a pair of uprights located in said slots of the cover and extended therethrough, horizontally disposed connections loosely uniting the upper portions of said uprights and at least one of said connections fixed to one of said shafts, a plunger on each of said uprights within the container, a crank extended from the lower shaft, a driving gear on the cover, and a yielding connection con nected at one of its ends to the driving gear and at its other end to the said cranlr for imparting an oscillatory motion to the connections uniting the plunger carrying uprights, thereby causing alternate vertical movement of the plungers.

ARCHIE W. FARRELL. 

